Robbery-Homicide Division
The Robbery-Homicide Division (RHD) of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Detective Bureau, is tasked with investigating a wide variety of select crimes that are often high-profile in nature. Command At the end of Season 1 of The Closer, Captain Russell Taylor is promoted to the rank of Commander by Assistant Chief Pope and becomes the head of the Robbery-Homicide Division, after his predecessor, Commander Scott, retires. Before his promotion to Commander, Taylor was assigned to RHD, most likely as the assistant commanding officer. In , Taylor mentions that he was the Captain of Robbery-Homicide in 2004 during the Reese Murders when Mark Hickman was fired for his perjury. After Commander Taylor transferred out of RHD in Season 4 of The Closer, it is not known who assumed command of the division. Sections of the Robbery-Homicide Division Robbery Special Section The Robbery Special Section (RSS) is responsible for investigating the following on a citywide basis: * Extortions or threats of extortion when: ** a prolonged investigation is required, and ** the extortion does not involve a juvenile as the suspect or victim, and ** the suspect has threatened to do unlawful injury to the person or property of another; * Extortions by any means, including explosives, involving an adult or juvenile victim or suspect and the extortion is directed against a bank, bank employee, bank messenger, federally insured credit union, savings and loan institution, or armored car facility; * Kidnappings when: ** There is the potential for serious bodily injury or death; or ** The facts indicate a connection to a major Citywide problem; or ** A prolonged investigation is required or the investigative resources required exceeds Geographic Area detective divisions capabilities, or ** A ransom demand is anticipated or has been made * Incidents involving human trafficking; * Incidents involving smuggled, undocumented persons when kidnaps and extortions are involved; * Selected robberies where a prolonged investigation is required or the investigative personnel required exceed geographic Area detective divisions resources; * Robberies of banks, bank employees, customers followed from banks, bank messengers, credit unions, savings and loan institutions, or armored car facility and the investigation of ATM Robberies; * Robberies of banks, bank employees, bank messengers, credit unions, savings and loan institutions, or armored car facilities. In addition, the Robbery Special Section also coordinates all live line-ups. Homicide Special Section The Homicide Special Section (HSS) is responsible for investigating the following on a citywide basis: * Threats against sworn employees resulting from the course and scope of their duties; * Homicides involving: ** Multiple victims (generally three or more) in one incident; ** Serial killers; ** Intense media coverage or high profile; ** Arson as the manner of death; * Assaults against on-duty, police officers in the city limits wherein: ** Serious bodily injury or death results; ** Officers are shot at and do not return fire; * The criminal aspect of an Officer-Involved Shooting requiring a prolonged, complex investigation; * Incidents involving death or serious injury to a LAPD employee that are: ** Non traffic related and officer involved; ** The result of suicide or an attempted suicide * Outside law enforcement agency shootings that occur on and off duty, in the city limits * Solicitation, extortion or conspiracy to commit murder (murder for hire); * Illegal abortions; * Any special investigation assigned by the Chief of Detectives; * Requests for assistance from area detectives; * Requests from outside law enforcement agencies. The Gang Homicide Unit (GHU) of HSS targets specific gangs and their involvement with certain criminal activity including, but not limited to, murder and other associated gang related crimes. There is also a full-time Crime Intelligence Analyst assigned to the unit to assist with telephone call data analysis, case charting, and link analysis. The GHU has specific knowledge of and experience with federal Racketeering Influence Corrupt Organization (RICO) prosecutions, and a great deal of experience in preparing court orders and search warrants to obtain business and telephone records related to Dialed Number Recorders (DNR), cell site towers, cell phone tracking, text message retrieval, and state and federal wiretap applications. NOTE: In the Major Crimes Universe, most of the high-profile murder investigations that would be conducted by the Homicide Special Section (HSS) are handled by the Major Crimes Division. Special Assault Section The Special Assault Section (SAS) is notified when any of the following crimes are committed in the city, but it only assumes investigative responsibility at the discretion of the Commanding Officer, RHD: * Sexual assault related homicides; * Sexual assaults during: ** Hot prowl burglary; ** Business burglary; ** Home invasion robbery; * Sexual assaults committed by a stranger when a firearm is seen; * Sexual assaults committed by a stranger where the victim is admitted to a hospital due to injuries sustained during the assault; * Sexual assaults committed by a stranger where the victim is kidnapped by being forced into a vehicle and transported to a secondary location; * Sexual assaults where the identity of the victim or suspect is of a high profile nature; * Serial sexual assaults; * “Cold case” sexual assaults (any unsolved sexual assault in the city that was committed more than two years ago, and has no significant leads, and is no longer being actively investigated by Area or Bureau detectives based on a lack of solvability factors and/or workload). Cold Case Homicide Special Section The Cold Case Special Section (CCSS) is primarily responsible for the following: * Investigating or assigning cold DNA “hit” cases city-wide; * Screening select cases and identifying solvability factors; * Submitting requests to Scientific Investigation Division for various types of analysis; * Submitting annual requests for grant funds to the National Institute of Justice. A “cold case” homicide is defined as any unsolved homicide in the city that was committed more than five years ago, and has no significant leads, and is no longer being actively investigated by Area or Bureau detectives based on a lack of solvability factors and/or workload. Trivia At times over the series, Major Crimes is mentioned asking for information on open cases from Robbery-Homicide and then effectively taking them over due to the cases tying into their own case in some manner. During season 5 of Major Crimes, Lieutenant Provenza gets Buzz Watson the Robbery-Homicide case files on the unsolved murders of his father and uncle so that he can finally get justice. In the five part "Hindsight" arc, its revealed that in 2004, Michael Tao, Stephanie Dunn and Mark Hickman were all detectives working in Robbery-Homicide when Officer Malcolm Reese was murdered by Daniel Price. The three investigated the case, but after Hickman's perjury cost the LAPD the case and the murders of DDA Rachel Gray and her bodyguard Eric Dunn, Hickman was fired. Stephanie subsequently transferred to the Narcotics Division. Category:The Closer Category:Major Crimes Category:LAPD Category:Robbery-Homicide Category:Detective Bureau